I was blown away by a dirty trick I saw at the semi-finals of 'Ard Boyz 40K. I observed it whilst watching a friend play. I don't play a lot of competitive games. Mostly, I play friendly "pick up" games at local games stores or multi-player games when my local club gets together.
Thus, I was surprised by a cheater I saw at 'Ard Boyz. His technique was pretty sneaky. I am used to "friendly games."
My buddy was resolving HTH combat with his opponent. He'd been hit pretty hard and he had to make a number of saves. He reached for his dice and picked them up. He said something like, "Saves. I need 4+" and then he rolled his dice in the middle of the board. He made all of his saves. My buddy said, "I'm good." His oppopnent gave a little grunt. My buddy started to move on to the next item, picking up his dice.
This is where the cheese-dick move happened.
His opponent said, "I didn't see your saves." Whaaaa? They'd just been rolled... openly... in the middle of the table.... whaaaa?
Now, I was an observer. My buddy was the player. We both fuc%ed up. There are a million responses ANYONE could have given that wouldn't have played into this prick's hand. Both of us responded poorly. I said, "He just rolled it in plain sight!" My buddy looked at me and said, "Unfortunately, you're my friend and biased." He then gave in and re-rolled the save, this time failing some...
I should have kept my mouth closed. My buddy should have said, "Sorry. I announced it. I rolled it. I did it openly. You even grunted. Too bad." However, both of us were caught by the cheater's tactic. We both gave instant reactions...
Have any of y'all run into this particular gambit before? if so, what was your reaction? In hindsight, my buddy SHOULD have said, "Too bad. I called it. I rolled it. I did it openly. You acknowledged it. Too mother-fuc%in' bad. Call a judge if you don't like it." But he didn't and ended up loosing critical troops at a critical juncture in the game.
The guy ended up taking a high place at the tournament.
The point of all this: don't be pushed around by cheaters. Don't give in for no good reason. If someone is spouting bullsh!t then stand ready to say, "No. I'm sorry, but I'm not falling for it."
See y'all around the gaming tables. Copeland
PS Has anyone ever seen this particular gambit before?
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Further clairification: the dirty cheat is this: You let your opponent make some important roll... if you don't like the outcome you just sit there and grunt as if acknowledging the roll... JUST after your opponent picks up the dice in question you declare that you didn't see the roll and demand that the roll be re-done... if your opponent is new, shocked, or foolish they give in to your demand and (hopefully) score a new roll more to your liking on the next go round...
My buddy clearly stated he was rolling the dice. He did it loudly. He proceeded to openly roll the dice in the middle of the board. he did not quickly pick up the dice. It was only JUST after he'd picked up the dice the the other guy said anything. That is what makes this particular form of nonsense so subtle. The cheater was not the guy who loudly declared his rolls and then openly rolled in the middle of the board... the cheater was the guy who grunted as if he'd seen the rolls and then pretended that he hadn't and demanded that his opponent re-roll a bunch of saves he'd already openly made!
In HINDSIGHT it seems clear that the response should have been some form of "whatever" but both of us are new enough to have been drawn in by the trick.